Dhimmitude is a neologism characterizing the status of non-Muslims under Muslim rule, popularized by the Egyptian-born British writer Bat Ye'or in the 1980s and 1990s.
[2] The term was coined in 1982 by the President of Lebanon, Bachir Gemayel, in reference to attempts by the country's Muslim leadership to subordinate the native Lebanese Christian minority.
"[3] The concept of "dhimmitude" was introduced into Western discourse by the writer Bat Ye'or in a French-language article published in the Italian journal La Rassegna mensile di Israel [it; de] in 1983.
"[15][16] Robert Irwin's review stated that her book Islam and Dhimmitude confuses religious prescriptions with political expediency, is "relentlessly and one-sided polemical", "repetitive", "muddled", and poorly documented in terms of the original languages.
[18] Bernard Lewis, Professor Emeritus of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University, states, If we look at the considerable literature available about the position of Jews in the Islamic world, we find two well-established myths.
One is the story of a golden age of equality, of mutual respect and cooperation, especially but not exclusively in Moorish Spain; the other is of "dhimmi"-tude, of subservience and persecution and ill treatment.